Recently, I had the opportunity to try out OMG Nail Strips. These are printed nail polish strips which come in over 40 different styles and prints; the brand notes they plan to add hundreds more in the future. Nail stickers have seen something of a recent revival in popularity, and I think the most easily accessible and well-known brand are from Sally Hansen. I was sent strips in the design “Viper” to try out.

OMG Nail Strips

Viper, as you can guess from the name and the print, is a snake-skin pattern. I don’t normally like any sort of animal print, but I’ve really been drawn to snake-skin patterns lately. I even bought a bikini top that has a snake-skin print just a few weeks ago. Also, I’ve been rereading A Song of Ice and Fire and I’ve become a bit fixated on the character of Oberyn Martell, also known as the Red Viper of Dorne. (‘w’)o

From afar, the pattern looks great. Up close, the resolution suffers a bit as you can see the ink scan lines and dots. This is a minor nitpick because from a practical standpoint, no one will be able to tell.

OMG provides application instructions on their website, and I found they do differ slightly from the Sally Hansen strips (which are the only other brand I’ve ever tried). The usual prep applies: Make sure to wash your hands, file your nails, push back your cuticles and apply lotion. After allowing the lotion to sink in, clean your nail beds with a swipe of nail polish remover. They suggest using a Q-tip to get into the crannies and side of your nail bed.

Before applying the strip, take the time to find which strip is appropriate for your nail size. You receive 14 strips in a set, so almost everyone should be able to find a good fit.

Using scissors, cut off the strip.

These come with a clear protective cover, which you should remove first.

Then, gently remove the sticker from the backing. Be very careful at this point, as you don’t want to stretch the strip and distort the print.

Carefully align it to your nail. I found it was best to smooth it down the middle, then radiate out to wrap the side of the nail bed. Press firmly to make sure it’s securely adhered to your nail.

Use a nail file to file off the excess. You want to make sure to keep the file flat and basically parallel to your nail tip in order not to tear the strip, and so it can wrap around the tip slightly for better wear time. This works better if your nails are long, but I keep my nails clipped short for piano.

Then, you want to swipe over the strips with nail polish remover again, in order to “melt” them down to your nails.

Finally, apply a topcoat and let dry. I used Seche Vite, but I actually recommend using another one as I’ll explain further down below.

Despite my short nails, I think they look pretty good! My only issue was that I was unable to find a good fit for my ring fingers without also sacrificing the fit of my other fingers. As you can see in the above picture, the sticker I ended up using did not quite wrap around my nail sides completely. However, I was not too fussed about this as it ended up making my fingers look slimmer (-w-;)

OMG claims you will get up to 10 days of wear time with their nail strips compared to traditional manicures or cheaper nail stickers. I got around 6 days of wear time from them, but this was due to several factors: first, I’m extraordinarily hard on my hands. I cook every day and hand-wash most of my dishes. Besides that, I think I could have gotten a full 10 days of wear out of them except that on the 6th day, a tiny bit of the strip on my index finger peeled up. Well, I’m way too fidgety for that, and rather than pressing it back down and applying more topcoat, I peeled it off. Then, of course, I had to peel the rest of them off. (u_u;) So, I think if you are more gentle on your hands than I am, and you don’t have compulsive urges which force you to pick and peel at things, you’ll definitely be able to get 10 days of wear of these, if not more.

Although, it’s worth mentioning that if you do peel them off, since they’re not a polish, they don’t harm your nails in any way. 😀

The whole process was super easy and I was able to do both my hands in just around 15 minutes, not including taking pictures of the process. The other upside is no dry time excepting the topcoat! I used Seche Vite topcoat, and as I mentioned earlier, I think for these strips I would definitely recommend using another topcoat. The “shrinkage” which is so common with Seche Vite was more noticeable in this case as it physically pulled the strip away from the nail tip; I think this, too, actually contributed to their relatively short wear time.

The strips are priced very competitively, and are in fact some of the cheapest I’ve ever seen. The site offers free shipping on all orders, and a single set of strips is only $6.89. Sally Hansen, by comparison, usually runs around $8 at the cheapest I’ve found it, not including tax. But even better, if you order more strips, you get a discount: 4 sets for $20 ($5 each) or 10 sets for $45 ($4.50 each). And of course, free shipping!

I’m really interested in trying out the Polka Scales and Diamonds designs. LSU football season is slowly coming up on us, and although I’m not a huge fan of football, I think the Tiger print would be really cute for a game or tailgate.

Which designs do you like? Have you tried OMG Nail Strips or other nail stickers before?

Price: $6.89 each, or 4 sets for $20, or 10 sets for $45Where to buy:OMG Nail StripsWould I repurchase?: Yes! I love nail stickers because they’re a quick and easy way to get an extremely detailed manicure, and OMG strips are good quality and extremely affordable.